Hair curler

ABSTRACT

A hair-curling device having a soft readily compressible outer tubular member and a helical inner stiffening member, both of which are generally flattened along the longitudinal axis when a compressive force of at least 5 pounds is exerted transversely on the curling device, and which members spring back to their original shape when the compressive force is removed.

United States Patent Inventor Nathan L. Solomon Cedar Lane, Englawood, NJ. 07631 Appl. No. 79,342

Filed Oct. 8, 1970 Patented Jan. 4, 1972 Continuation of application Ser. No. 843,897, June 23, 1969, now abandoned Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 596,653, Nov. 23, 1966, now abandoned. This application Oct. 8, 1970, Ser. No. 79,342

HAIR CURLER 10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. (I 132/39 Int. Cl A45d 2/24 Field of Search 132/39-44 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,139,889 7/1964 Buzzelli 132/39 3,294,099 12/1966 Warthen et a1. 132/39 3,316,920 5/1967 Cruise 132/39 3,348,554 10/1967 Solomon 132/39 3,417,760 12/1968 Silver 132/39 Primary Examiner-Robert Peshock Assistant Examiner.l. N. Eskovitz AttorneyHoward C. Miskin ABSTRACT: A hair-curling device having a soft readily compressible outer tubular member and a helical inner stifiening member, both of which are generally flattened along the longitudinal axis when a compressive force of at least 5 pounds is exerted transversely on the curling device, and which members spring back to their original shape when the compressive force is removed.

mimwm 41972 353L868 INVENTOR. A/4/w4/v 1. 5040/10 HAIR CURLER This application is a streamline continuation of application, Ser. No. 843,897, filed June 23, I969 and now abandoned,

which in turn is a continuation-inpart of application Ser. No.

596,653 for Hair Curler, filed Nov. 23, 1966, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a device for forming curls in the hair and particularly to a hair curling device adapted to maintain a firm, yet flexible, support for the rolled tress of hair, which may be worn by the wearer while sleeping.

Hair curling as practiced today in the home and beauty shops involves division of the hair of the wearer into varioustresses or swatches. Each of the tresses or swatches is evenly wound on a hair curler and by dampening the curl tress with water or by solutions of chemicals, by heat application, or the like, the swatch or tress is caused to take the form imparted to the hair by the curler.

As is well known in the art, during hairwaving treatments, the hair filaments elongate when dampened with water or waving lotions, and contract when dry. If a curler does not embody adequate means for compensation for the elongation and contraction of the hair filaments during the curling process, the hair swatch wound thereon frequently becomes loosened, and the individual hair filaments become displaced and take the curl from existing under the loosened or displaced condition, which does not produce the optimum curl,-which, of course, is the intended result of the curling operation. Also, a satisfactory curler should allow the hair to be spread generally uniformly over the curler surface, and should not provide points of stress concentration with respect to the hair filaments.

Further, while the curling device should provide a firm support for the wound tress of hair, it should be soft and flexible to the head of the wearer, so as to cause no discomfort to the wearer during sleeping or lying down while the curlers are in the hair.

A wide variety of hair curlers have been developed, including those made entirely of plastic, but they have not proved entirely satisfactory. Heretofore curlers were made of metal or plastic, and lacked inherent resiliency and flexibility to readily conform to the contour of the scalp or maintain the hair under constant tension when hair was wound thereon, or else were too expensive to produce or fabricate to sell widely. Other prior art curlers used a combination of a metal spring and mesh netting. This type of curler used costly materials and was difficult and expensive to assemble. A cotton or plastic woven or molded mesh cover was placed about the spring surface so that any radial or transverse compression of the curler, such as occurs during winding of the hair, separates the mesh from the spring circumference, thereby producing an uneven curl. Necessarily, the steel spring was made sturdy to avoid collapse during use, which made the curler nonconformable to the scalp and uncomfortable to the user to keep the curler in the hair overnight.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and efiective hair curler which prevents the wound hair filaments from circumferential movement about the periphery of the curler, when a swatch of hair is wound thereon and simultaneously holds the hair filaments under tenson.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a resilient curling device, which is sufficiently rigid to maintain its general shape while a swatch of hair is wound thereon and during the curling process, but which is flexible so as to readily conform to the scalp of the user and also flexes during the winding and curling operations for holding the wound hair continuously under tension during wetting and drying of the hair and returning to its original shape after removing the swatch of hair.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a haircurling device which has a spring coil for supporting the tress wound thereon, which maintains flexibility and compressibility of the curler, and a resilient covering which permits to coil to be yieldably flattened to allow the user to wear the curler overnight, if desired, without discomfort, and which returns to its unstressed shape when the compressive force is removed.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a haircurling device that accomplishes all of the above, and yet is simple to use, inexpensive to fabricate, light in weight, allows free evaporation of any moisture in the hair and is reliable and durable in use.

Other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent when the following description is considered in connection with the annexed drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the hair curling device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1, and further showing a hair pick in shadow in operative hair holding position;

FIG. 3 is a crosssectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a crosssectional elevational view, similar to FIG. 3, but in compressed position; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, enlarged front elevational view of one strand of the coil in operative position with the outer tube.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown an elongated, generally cylindrical curling device 12. Curling device 12 has for its curl support a spiral or helical coil 14 having the desired length and defining the desired diameter. Coil l4 defines a generally cylindrical body and while advantageously is made of wire, it may be made of any suitable rigid, but flexible material, such as steel, aluminum, plastic, or other types of metal, of desired diameter and length. If made of steel, the strand from which coil 14 is made is preferably coated with a suitable protective covering, such as plastic, enamel or the like, so as to avoid rusting and discoloring the hair when used with various waving lotions. Both ends of the coil are preferably flattened or close wound as at 13 to prevent the ends from hooking into the hair. The strand has a diameter, if round, of one sixteenth inches or less; or if nonround, the thickness or radial dimensions is one sixteenth inches or less. To return to its original shape after being flattened, the strand must be flexible. If steel is used, it must be high carbon, such as 50 or above carbon steel.

Concentrically disposed about the outer peripheral surface of the coil 14 is a generally tubular member of shell 16. Tube 16 is made from a soft foamtype material, such as urethane or vinyl plastic material. Tube 16 is flexible, pliable, soft and cushiony and has a small thickness relative to the diameter of the roller 12. Tube 16 is not capable of supporting a rolled tress of hair alone. The inner diameter of tube 16 is slightly smaller than the outer diameter of coiled spring 14 and is slightly longer in length. As seen best in FIGS. 3 and 5, tube 16 is radially stretched when mounted about coiled spring 14. By reason of the resilient nature of tube 16, the portions abutting the helix of coil 14 are compressed as seen best in FIG. 5, so as to maintain tube 16 fixedly in position relative to coil 14 during use. The oversized diameter of spring 14 causes the extending annular ends of tube 16 to deform inwardly as at 18 to better retain tube 16 in operative position relative to coil 14.

Upon initially rolling hair on tube 16, tube 16 is resiliently flexed inwardly. The inward flexing of tube 16 maintains the filaments of the swatch of hair wound thereon under tensive stress at all times because of the forces tending to return tube 16 to its unstressed condition. As the hair filaments elongate and contract because of being treated with water, lotions, etc., and through drying the resiliency and freedom of movement or give of tube 16 tends to compensate for the elongation of the hair. The hair wound about tube 16 can be maintained in position by a hair pick 20, as seen in FIG. 2. Hair pick 20 readily penetrates the tress of hair as well as tube l6 and passes between consecutive coils of spring I4 and out through the other side for maintaining roller 12 in rolled position on the head of the user. Tube 16 resiliently holds pick 20 in position. If desired, hair clips and hobby pins may also be used to retain the hair about roller I2 in a conventional manner.

Curler 12 is readily flexed longitudinally, so as to readily conform to the head of the user. Tube 16 in combination with coil spring 14 allows the use of a highly flexible coiled spring to bend and move quite freely with respect to the contour of the head of the user. Also, roller 12 is so constructed that it readily collapses when the wearer retires at night wearing the curler when her head rests on it, as seen best in FIG. 4. Coiled spring 14 collapses upon the application of a transverse compressive force of about ten pounds, as indicated by arrow 22 in FIG. 3. Even in its totally collapsed position, shown in FIG. 4, roller 12 is readily bendable along the longitudinal axis to conform to the head of the user during sleeping. Tube 16 being soft and cushiony avoids the uncomfortable feeling heretofore found with prior art rollers during sleeping. Since the ends of coiled spring 14 are not rigidly retained by tube 16, spring 14 collapses when compressed radially and returns to its normal position upon removal of the compressive force. To aid in collapsing coil 14, the lead angle of the helix is formed substan' tially equal to the angle between lines tangent to corresponding points on facing surfaces of adjoining turns. This happens when the slope of one portion of one of the turns is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the coil. As shown best in FIG. 3, one portion of each turn is substantially perpendicular to the axis of coil 14. The collapsing compressive force on the roller must be less than the weight of the head of the wearer on a pillow during sleep, which is about to 12 pounds, so that roller is comfortable during sleep. The combination of the thickness of the strand, the type of material used, the lead angle of the helix combine to produce collapsing when a force of at least 5 pounds or more is applied transversely to the curler.

Thus, there has been disclosed a haircurling device which is very comfortable to wear and has an elongated, flexible, readily expandable and compressible body on which a curl is formed. Any moisture in the hair can freely evaporate. The highly resilient surface supporting the tress of hair automatically adjusts to the tension of the curl during its setting and drying process. This produces a more natural curl, since differences of tension of the hair, which naturally occur in the curling process, will produce a curl which is not too regular or uniform in diameter and therefore will not look too artificial. The twopiece unit collapses inwardly in response to a compressive force, such as occurs during sleeping, but will not separate. The abovedescribed curling devices are advantageous for resting or sleeping, because the coils are highly resilient and tend to yield or conform to the head shape and irregularities of a pillow. Further, they have excellent shape regaining characteristics. While the outer member is shown having a continuous surface, an open mesh surface may also be used.

While a preferred embodiment has been described above, it will be understood that many variations will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the foregoing description shall be deemed illustrative only and not construed in the limiting sense, the present invention being defined solely by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A collapsible haircurling device, comprising a helical coil forming an inner curl support member cylindrical in operating position, said coil being formed of a strand of rigid resilient material and a tubular pliable outer member of elastic spongelike material about which the hair is wound, said outer member being concentrically mounted about and resiliently engaging said inner member with the internal diameter of said outer member being less than the external diameter diameter of said inner member, said coil and outer member, together, flattening and remaining in nested connection in response to a compressive force of between 5 and 12 pounds applied to the outer member transversely to the coil axis and returning to their cylindrical shape when said transverse force is removed.

2. A haircurling device as in claim 1, wherein said coil is made of C l050 s ring steel minimum carbon content.

3. A hair-cur ing device as in claim 2, wherein the radial thickness of the strand is no more than one sixteenth inches.

4. A device as in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of one convolution of said helical coil is substantially perpendicular to the axis of said coil.

5. A hair-curling device as in claim 1, wherein said outer member has openings therethrough.

6. A collapsible haircurling device comprising a helical coil forming an inner curl support member cylindrical in operating position, said coil being formed of a strand of rigid resilient material, said coil flattening along the axis of the coil in response to a compressive force of at least 5 pounds applied transversely to the coil axis, and returning to its cylindrical shape when said force is removed, successive convolutions of said coil having a lead angle substantially equal throughout the entire length of the coil, and a tubular pliable outer member about which the hair is wound, said outer member being concentrically mounted about and resiliently engaging said inner member.

7. A haircurling device as in claim 6, wherein said outer member is of elastic spongelike material and has a smaller internal diameter than the outer diameter of said inner member, so that said tubular outer member is stretched when mounted about said inner member and resiliently engages and maintains its relative position about said inner member while said inner member is flattened.

8. A haircurling device as in claim 7, wherein the opposite ends of said outer member overlap said inner member and extend radially inwardly beyond the coil of said inner member.

9. A haircurling device as in claim 6, wherein said transverse force does not exceed 12 pounds.

10. A haircurling device as in claim 6, wherein the outer member is compressible.

* i i i 

1. A collapsible hair-curling device, comprising a helical coil forming an inner curl support member cylindrical in operating position, said coil being formed of a strand of rigid resilient material and a tubular pliable outer member of elastic spongelike material about which the hair is wound, said outer member being concentrically mounted about and resiliently engaging said inner member with the internal diameter of said outer member being less than the external diameter of said inner member, said coil and outer member, together, flattening and remaining in nested connection in response to a compressive force of between 5 and 12 pounds applied to the outer member transversely to the coil axis and returning to their cylindrical shape when said transverse force is removed.
 2. A hair-curling device as in claim 1, wherein said coil is made of C1050 spring steel minimum carbon content.
 3. A hair-curling device as in claim 2, wherein the radial thickness of the strand is no more than one sixteenth inches.
 4. A device as in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of one convolution of said helical coil is substantially perpendicular to the axis of said coil.
 5. A hair-curling device as in claim 1, wherein said outer member has openings therethrough.
 6. A collapsible hair-curling device comprising a helical coil forming an inner curl support member cylindrical in operating position, said coil being formed of a strand of rigid resilient material, said coil flattening along the axis of the coil in response to a compressive force of at least 5 pounds applied transversely to the coil axis, and returning to its cylindrical shape when said force is removed, successive convolutions of said coil having a lead angle substantially equal throughout the entire length of the coil, and a tubular pliable outer member about which the hair is wound, said outer member being concentrically mounted about and resiliently engaging said inner member.
 7. A hair-curling device as in claim 6, wherein said outer member is of elastic spongelike material and has a smaller internal diameter than the outer diameter of said inner member, so that said tubular outer member is stretched when mounted about said inner member and resiliently engages and maintains its relative position about said inner member while said inner member is flattened.
 8. A hair-curling device as in claim 7, wherein the opposite ends of said outer member overlap said inner member and extend radially inwardly beyond the coil of said inner member.
 9. A hair-curling device as in claim 6, wherein said transverse force does not exceed 12 pounds.
 10. A hair-curling device as in claim 6, wherein the outer member is compressible. 